Washington has a spending problem, and the American people are stuck with the bill.
asserted
people → have → bill
While families across the country sit around kitchen tables balancing their budgets, cutting costs, and making tough financial decisions, the federal government continues to operate with far too little accountability when projects fail.
asserted
projects → sit → accountability
Costs spiral into the billions.
asserted
Costs → spiral → billions
Deadlines slip by years.
asserted
Deadlines → slip → years
And too often, taxpayers are left footing the bill without knowing what went wrong.
asserted
what → leave → bill
Our national debt has now soared past $40 trillion.
asserted
debt → soar → trillion
Since 2003, federal agencies have racked up nearly $2.7 trillion in improper payments.
asserted
agencies → rack → payments
These numbers represent hard-earned taxpayer dollars that deserve the same care and responsibility American families expect when managing their own finances.
asserted
families → represent → finances
California’s high-speed rail project was originally estimated at $33 billion.
asserted
project → estimate → billion
Today, that cost has since increased by nearly $231 billion, one of the most expensive rail projects in our nation’s history.
asserted
cost → increase → history
After years of delays and billions in spending, a single track hasn’t been laid.
asserted
track → lay → spending
A roughly six-mile extension to the San Francisco subway has ballooned to nearly $13 billion, which is more than the entire annual budget for the state of Iowa.
asserted
which → balloon → Iowa
In Honolulu, the rail project was originally estimated to cost far less than what taxpayers are now facing.
asserted
taxpayers → estimate → what
The current estimated cost of the remaining project is roughly $10.1 billion, with the project having faced years of delays and significant cost increases.
asserted
project → estimate → delays
These are not isolated incidents.
asserted
These → isolate → ?
They are symptoms of a system that too often allows massive cost overruns and yearslong delays to continue without enough transparency or accountability.
asserted
overruns → allow → transparency
That is why we introduced the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act.
asserted
we → introduce → Act
Our bipartisan legislation is simple and rooted in common sense: If a federal project goes more than $1 billion over budget or falls more than five years behind schedule, the American people deserve to know.
asserted
people → root → schedule
Those projects should not be hidden in bureaucratic reports or buried beneath layers of red tape.
asserted
projects → hide → tape
They should be publicly identified so Congress and taxpayers can see where their money is going and demand answers.
asserted
money → identify → answers
The House and Senate have both passed the Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act, and the legislation is now headed to President Donald Trump’s desk.
asserted
legislation → pass → desk
Signing this legislation into law will make it much harder for Washington to hide the most egregious failures from the people paying the bills.
asserted
Washington → sign → bills
Taxpayers should not have to discover years later that a project is billions over budget or decades behind schedule.
asserted
project → have → schedule
If a project is failing, the public deserves to know.
asserted
public → fail → ?
If a project is wasting money, Congress deserves to know.
asserted
Congress → waste → money
And if a project is going off the rails, those responsible should be held accountable.
asserted
those → go → rails
The American people do not expect perfection from their government.
asserted
people → expect → government
They expect responsibility.
asserted
They → expect → responsibility
They expect that when billions of dollars are spent, there is a plan.
asserted
billions → expect → dollars
They expect deadlines to be taken seriously.
asserted
deadlines → expect → ?
And they expect Washington to treat their hard-earned money with the same care they use to manage their own.
asserted
they → expect → own
When costs increase for families, as they have over the past five years, tough decisions must be made to live within a budget.
asserted
decisions → increase → budget
When costs increase for government projects, Washington just taxes or borrows more.
asserted
Washington → increase → more
The Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act is an important step toward restoring that accountability.
asserted
Act → restore → accountability
It is time to end the era of blank checks and backroom excuses.
asserted
It → end → checks
It is time to bring transparency to Washington and put a stop to billion-dollar boondoggles.
asserted
It → bring → boondoggles
Joni Ernst is a U.S. senator representing the people of Iowa.
asserted
Ernst → represent → Iowa
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks represents Iowa’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
asserted
Meeks → represent → Representatives
The Aporia
